A HISTORY OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, BOTTISHAM
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At the south-east corner of the nave there lies a slab with the matrix of a
slab which indicates, from the costumes, that the original was of a man and his
wife in the late 14th century. The slab lies north/south and therefore is not in its
original position. Hailstone suggested that this could commemorate either Robert
or Thomas Bodekesham who were wealthy and influential inhabitants of Lynn and
died at this time. This slab is now covered by the 1995 extension of the chancel
floor. Behind the pews at the west end of the nave is, judging from the costumes, a
slightly later-date slab: there remain the matrices of a man and wife, in civilian
clothes, plus an inscription and matrices of shields at the corners. This slab also
contains matrix for the sons and another for the daughters. Is this a dedication to
the de Bodekesham family?
ELIAS DE BEKINGHAM Of considerable importance is the tomb
slab at the east end of the central aisle of the nave. Dr Paul Binsky describes it in
some detail (The Early English Brasses. 1987) and classes the slab as a ‘Camoys
Style Prototype’. This slab dates from a time (1305), when a taste for brasses
developed among professional or quasi-professional classes. The example at
Bottisham stands at the beginning of the second generation of production from the
activity of one workshop in London (Binsky).
Elias de Bekingham had a major influence on the church at Bottisham:
his achievements, in relation to the contemporary history of England, deserve a
diversion in this modest history of Holy Trinity, Bottisham. The Plantagenet,
King Edward I, reigned (1272-1307), at a time when Elias was one of Edward’s
judges who were drawn from the ranks of the lesser Baronage. Returning from a
period in France, the King found that the judiciary was so useless and corrupt, that
a clean sweep was made of the judiciary. The Chief Judiciary was banished from
the realm and his colleagues imprisoned and fined. However, in the 17th year of
the reign of Edward I (1289) a writ was registered which stated:-’ there was not
found any amongst all the justices and officers cleere and void of unjust dealing,
except John de Metingham and Elias de Bekingham, who only amongst the rest
had behaved themselves uprightly’.
Elias was from the family of Bckingham of Bekingham in the county of
Nottingham. It appears that Elias lived at Bendyshe Hall, Bottisham. There is a
detailed record of land and properties in Bottisham, and the Priory of Anglesey
area, from which income and fees were paid to Elias. Further income came from
land and properties in the county of Nottingham, where the family held land from
1284 to 1395. Elias’s name does not appear after 1304. Such a man of wealth and
national importance must have viewed the rebuilding of the unprepossessing